Police use tear gas against protesters in Turkey

Turkish police moved in Saturday night in a quick military-style operation, using water cannons and bulldozers to clear Taksim Square, where protesters have been gathering. NBC’s Richard Engel reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>we do want to begin with violent clashes happening in turkey. our chief foreign correspondent
richard engelcaught in the middle
of it all and he joins us from
istanbul
with the very latest. richard, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, erica. there has been more clashes here in
istanbul
this morning. the situation escalated yesterday when
riot police
moved in a
taksim square
to drive out protesters. we were here for that crackdown and saw what happened during it and what followed.
turkish police
moved in saturday night, a quick military style operation using water cannons and bulldozers to clear
taksim square
and the park inside of it pr protesters don't want destroyed. cleared the square with ease. then things started to go wrong because now police had to keep people from turnireturning. and it was in the small streets around the square where police got much more aggressive. nbc news witnessed one incident at a nearby hotel. police used clubs to drive people off the streets and inside the hotel. police are moving out even beyond
taksim square
trying to push the protesters out of the
side streets
and keep them from gathering in any one place and returning to 0
taksim square
. the hotel was a protester base. they set up a makeshift clinic in the lobby. then police fired
tear gas
inside the hotel. in an enclosed space, the gas is far more powerful. it can even be lethal. and like in most hotels, the windows here don't open. most of the demonstrators don't have proper
gas masks
. they don't just choke, it burns. some faint, some go limp . this is not the image turkey wants to show. instead, prime minister
erdogan
has been holding mass rallies for him and his actions. he calls the protesters hooligans and vows to restore order. but even some of the prime minister's supporters are critical saying he may be overstepping, and by using so metropolitan force is turning a small protest into a protest movement. prime minister
erdogan
is expected to hold his biggest rally yet today. it could draw hundreds of thousands of people here in
istanbul
. luckily the rally won't be held in
taksim square
but out at the airport so there are unlikely to be clashes between
erdogan
supporters and protesters, but there are deep divisions in this country that are becoming even more distinct. eri erica?